"But if Michigan would have won, Trey Burke would have been God" - Nix

"But if Michigan would have won, Trey Burke would have been God" - Nix

"I just watch a lot of basketball, and a lot of guys get credit that I don't think (deserve) it," Nix said. "I think there's a lot of overrated players out there. Like me and (Adreian) Payne, I think there's a lot of underrated players. I just feel that way.

"I don't know if it's us as players, I don't know if it's Michigan State, I don't know what it is. I just feel like none of us get credit. (Indiana's Victor) Oladipo is no different than (Branden) Dawson. Dawson's not on the draft board, Oladipo is in the top 15."

"But if Michigan would have won, Trey Burke would have been God," Nix said. "Tim Hardaway would have been God. Glenn Robinson would have been God. The freshmen would have been God. We won, and they didn't even show our highlights. That's pitiful."

Acting like their football team. Geez last time I checked they have owned our ass in basketball. Looks like they are getting a little doubt in their mind now that we are actually good again and football is back to normal. Sparty on

Well since Basketball is twice a year, what you're saying is we've been competitive for a few years now. Which is true, we've been good for a few years now, but for most of the preceding decade they stomped on us

I mean, it's a lot more similar than football is compared to that time.

But what would it matter anyway? Sports evolve - even baseball. Does that mean we ignore older time periods? Are you suggesting that had a sport been similar to how it is today 80 years ago that for some reason it would be more advantageous to another team?

It really is amazing how their mindset is so similar whether it's football or basketball. Even more remarkable considering all of the success their basketball program has had in the last 10-12 years.

I'd love to see an in-depth psychological study on why certain programs and fanbases think the way that they do. Like how do Georgia Tech and Georgia fans interact? USC - UCLA. Is there anything weird between ND and Indiana?

There's not really anything between ND and Indiana, but there surely is between Indiana and Purdue.

Purdue fans have developed the same "little brother" syndrome as MSU fans - they're more concerned with how IU does than their own team. To them, an IU loss is more important than a Purdue win; especially recently with IU being pretty good.

I went to Purdue and Purdue is the little brother of IU in basketball and a bit of a little brother to Notre Dame in football. But even still, Purdue isn't even close to as bad as Sparty. MSU sets the standard.

As a Texas resident, I feel A&M falls into this category. It may change a little now that they're in the SEC but most seem more concerned about UT rather than how their team is doing. A lot of them even have logos on their truck windows of a longhorn with his horns "sawed off". Meanwhile Texas seems more concerned about Oklahoma (kind of like UM with Ohio).

but keep spouting off Sparty, we'll see you in AA soon and things will be different. Our team went through a rough patch where a bad decision by Coach B not to have an inbound defender against Wisc kept us from going 2-2 in that stretch.

I still believe in the team, they're growing up and taking their licks and hopefully will mature from it.

In 1989, we went through a tough stretch and won it all, in 2006, Florida started out 14 or 15-0 before losing, they were young, went through a tough time, lost 7 games before the tourney started and they matured enough to take the whole thing.

Can we stop comparing this team to past great teams. All those teams would crap on this team because they play DEFENSE. Even that Florida 06 team played DEFENSE.

This team is built to outscore you and if you get them in a halfcourt set they are in deep trouble. Let's not worry about sparty as they clearly do what they need to do to get motivated. Maybe we need to find something to get motivated and play D at some point.

This tough stretch excuse is getting really annoying. Tough teams that grind it out win those type of games and this team didn't.

We are 20-4. Playing 4 ranked teams in a row, 3 on the road (including two top 10 teams), is a tough stretch for anyone. But you are right, how annoying that people look at that stretch realistically. I WANT MOAR WINS!

Had Michigan gone 2-2 during that stretch I don't think anyone would make a comment. But a supposed top 5 team should not go 1-3 no matter how difficult the stretch is. That's the difference between being elite vs. good. Michigan proved they are not an elite team this year. After the start they had, that's a tough adjustment for some fans.

you can't get that four games in nine days is murder on the third-youngest team in college ball? "Tough teams, tough teams," blah blah blah. Playing the man-card from your sofa is just lame. It is what it IS, for god's sake.

Further, I don't think you have been watching much, because they had lots of glorious half-court buckets earlier in the year. The O is predicated this year not so much on outscoring (what does that even mean?) but on having the threat come from all sides. Shut down GRIII and minimize Stauskas and--yes--this is a far easier team to defend.

Sparty doesn't seem to understand that it does the Lil Bro thing to itself. They find ways to whine and bitch about everything when it comes to Michigan. Grow up, man. You beat your archrival by 20+ points. Is that not good enough for you?

after their loss to Wisconsin in the playoff last year. First thing he says is that M is sitting at home and will play in a better bowl game. If he thinks life is fair, he'd be better off working for the government.

I'm assuming Nix is talking about ESPN coverage. Not only is our Alumni association larger, we are more widely dispersed around the country. MSU has ~10% out of state students while Michigan has over 40%. Tuition isn't cheap so many of those people are coming from lucrative markets on the coasts.

Maybe you're right man. Maybe I should let it go. But don't let that confuse the point; my intent there was to frame an irrelevant quote from Sparty out of a newspaper "I really couldn't give a flying f***" about.

I think he has a little bit of a point in general. MSU was not playing well at the beginning of the season and the media has been slow to pick up on the fact that they are playing pretty well right now. The Miami loss looks a lot better. Wins @WI, Kansas, OSU and over us is pretty impressive.

But he didn't do himself any favors with that absurd Oladipo vs. Dawson comparison. Let's see Oladipo is making 67% of his 2P shots and 52% of his 3s. Meanwhile Dawson has made 57% of his 2s and has yet to make a 3 this season. Oladipa gets to the line a lot more (46 FT rate vs 33 for Dawson) and shots 75% there vs. 55% by Dawson. Oladipo's assist rate is about 50% higher than Dawon's. Dawson has a slightly higher DReb rate, Oladipo a hair better at ORebs. Dawson with a few more blocks and Oladipo with a few more steals. Both with a lot of turnovers. Overall though they are not in the same ballpark. Oladipo is #1 in the country in Total Shooting and Dawson is #361. Dawson's a solid player but Oladipo has been insanely efficient offensively and is worthy of national player of the year consideration.

I didn't read this response before I posted but this is exactly correct, there is no way Dawson and Oladipo are comparable, Victor does everything well compared to Dawson's ability to only dunk and rebound.

State and Izzo are reeling. Izzo knows that he is losing his grip on Michigan. For over 10 years everyone has talked about Michigan state in Michigan, note I didn't say the country. I hate MSU but can look at things objectively. Even when they are making final four after final four I don't think people around the country perceives them as a powerhouse. I don't think a recruit outside the Midwest gets an MSU offer and is really wowed.

Tom Izzo IMO is struggling recruiting. He doesn't have anyone signed for next year. He has had a lot of recruiting misses IMO. Costello has a lot of developing (I'm actually happy he didn't pick us and we got mcgary) and I'm extremely happy we didn't get Byrd. Gauna is a wasted scholarship, Valentine is nothing special, etc. Michigan this year, the entire country is talking about us. We have a buzz around the country and in the state. People outside of EL just aren't talkin about he Spartans and they're a pretty good team.

You can't say Tom Izzo is losing his grip on the state of Michigan until he actually loses a player to the Wolverines. There is no player on Michigan's current or future roster that has an MSU offer. There are several that play for MSU that Beilein has offered. Once Michigan starts taking kids from MSU, then people like me will start sounding the alarm bells for MSU basketball.

I agree with you but youve got to understand that its just starting. The stigma of bad UM basketball has finally worn off. This years top team + $100M renovations to the bball facilities are doing wonders for recruiting.

Didnt you guys offer Derrick Walton? We'll probably get Eric Davis out of Saginaw and Josh Jackson from Detroit in a few years.

Walton was never offered. And for the record, I agree with you that your program is trending in the right direction, but what I scoff is the talk that UM has risen, MSU has fallen, etc. It's the same argument that MSU homers make for MSU football being on top after a nice few years.

Yep. There's plenty of basketball talent in the Midwest for both programs to thrive. Football is a different animal since there are so many more players in a recruiting class than in basketball (20 or so vs 2-4).

Plus, the Midwest does not produce as much talent in football as it does in basketball.

That statement reads like Nix wants more ass-kissing from the media. Someone should let ESPN know that he isn't happy with the highlight coverage of MSU basketball, or how the draft board is being handled.

And Nix will likely find out just how different Oladipo and Dawson are on Tuesday.

I actually agree with Nix, but he is only pointing out something pervasive throughout all sports.

When the Tigers swept the Yankees for the AL Pennant, the national media essentially only ran headlines about ARod's future, Jeter's recovery, and the Yankee loss. There are more Yankee fans and that is what the media wants. More interested ears.

Michigan has a bigger national alumni fanbase, a more compelling story with the leading POY candidate, a better shot at #1 Seed, and subsequently a better shot at a Final Four berth.

Hah he's delusional if he thinks Dawson is as good as Home Depot. Dawson can't hit a shot from more than 6 feet from the rim and his defense is nothing compared to Victor, that is such a ridiculous comparison.

If Sparty hadn't started the year relatively slow, the talk surrounding their team would be much different. I don't know why they're complaining now. They're playing well and are poised to make a run in March.

I really like this becuase it shows that Sparty's inferiority complex has finally expanded to include the basketball team. Ever since the "troubles" at Michigan, Sparty has been able to claim superiority over Michigan. They have been the benefit of a media that loves to overrate them at every opportunity.

Now that Michigan has a legitimate program again, the MSU basketball team isn't getting nearly the hype that they have in previous years.

They think it's msu getting no hype? Espn will forever love Izzo. They're probably going to jump us. Stop whining.
But if they don't jump us, I would predict another of these whiny outbursts which would be hilarious.

I live in NC and when I talk college basketball with folks from here, the teams from Michigan are "Michigan" and "Tom Izzo" not "Michigan" and "Michigan State."

Tom Izzo *is* begrudingly respected here - yes, he has earned himself the right to, maybe, hold Dean Smith or Coach K's jock. But only that - hold their jocks. None of the players, just the coach. The theme here goes like this: "Izzo's teams...[notice, it's not Michigan State]...don't really play basketball. It's more like football." It's true, they do know Izzo's Team is Michigan State, but the association is very clear.

And I never them name a player like they might for Michigan - as in "That Trey Burke is sick. I caught one of y'all's games when he broke this dude's ankles who's trying to guard him." And "Hardaway Junior's got a smooth stroke." Alas, there's almost always this, too: "What do you think of the 1-3-1?" So, apparently, they do know something of Beilein, but he isn't Beilein, he's "The 1-3-1." Thank you ESPN.

Nix will just be ignored again when his obese ass gets kicked at Crisler. "Pride comes before the fall." I think it's funny that none of this garbage comes out of Ann Arbor but always comes out of East Lansing. Inferiority Complex 101

Only MSU can start the 14th, 16th, 17th, 45th, and 74th best players in their respective classes and still feel like they've been shortchanged. Their team is stacked. And barring a crazy tournament run, they'll be stacked again next year, too. But having zero commits for '13 and 14, and the thought that Harris, Dawson, Payne and Appling might all be gone after next season, has got to be giving Spartan fans some pause.